


Encounter in Kyoto

by Selah



Series: The Long Chain Cycle [3]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, Jpop, Kpop - Fandom, w-inds.
Genre: Gen, band antics, fanboy Changmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-17 01:32:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4647288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selah/pseuds/Selah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was real. A real letter with a real ticket. And a real chance to meet the real people behind the music he loved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Encounter in Kyoto

**Author's Note:**

> Written forever ago under a different pseud for the 30emotions prompt "excitement." I've made a few edits/revisions since then, some of them major.

Changmin was pretty sure the postcard had been one of those staff-sent things, especially since he was almost positive the 'signature' had actually been a rubberstamp copy of the real thing. The letter, on the other hand ... that had been real. Real words written with real ink on real paper and capped with a real signature. And enclosed with a real fanclub membership packet and a real ticket to a real fanclub-only event.

And it had required Changmin to barter a real piece of his soul to Yunho and their management to be allowed to go.

~*~*~

Alone. Just him, no one else, because there had only been one ticket and, considering he hadn't even been looking for even that much, it had seemed ungrateful to try to beg/plead/whine/offer sex for any more. Not that such arguments had stopped Yunho from looking utterly crushed. Promises to bring back something extra special had only modified their leader's expression to slightly depressed. As tempting as it had been to point out that this was why Yunho should have written his own letter to the trio, Changmin resisted. For one thing, he rather enjoyed the simple pleasure of breathing, and he intended to keep doing it for many more years to come, thank you.

This was the first time he had come to Kyoto by himself and it was a bit ... overwhelming wasn't quite the right word, but it was close. Getting from the airport to the hotel had been easy enough - hotel shuttle service was a beautiful thing - but he had several hours yet before the concert and he really wasn't sure quite what to do with himself. To be honest, he was a little afraid to try going out on his own, afraid he would be recognized and mobbed by crazy fangirls. On the other hand, just sitting around his hotel room waiting was unacceptably boring. So he took extra care in making himself look unremarkable before stepping out of the hotel. And almost immediately regretted it; as many times as they had been to Kyoto for performances, they really hadn't spent much time just doing things around town without also being shepherded by handlers and film crews and all the satellite staff that went along with touring. Changmin had some idea of where to go for shopping, but he wasn't really in the right mood for that. Neither was he that interested in hanging out in an arcade, inviting more trouble. Maybe he could just walk about the district aimlessly, find a park or maybe a temple or shrine and just ... let himself unwind, before the hectic pace of the city could get to him even more than it already was. Just a matter of going back inside the hotel, getting a map, and then figuring out the best way to get to where he wanted to go. Easy.

Sitting in the park, watching people and clouds passing by, he almost lost track of time completely. Until his stomach informed him that it had been entirely too long since he had last eaten anything of substance. With a little over an hour to go before the doors opened, he made his way to the venue, then looked around there for someplace to eat. A bowl of noodles and some fresh takoyaki later, he was ready to take his chances in the line for the fanclub-only event. Not easy to handle - he could feel the eyes of dozens of fangirls watching him, sizing him up and probably trying to decide if he really was who he looked like he was, only that couldn't be possible because surely he wouldn't be standing in line like a peasant and on and on and on. He was just starting to think this had all been a horrible mistake on his part when someone wearing a backstage pass and a w-inds. tour shirt asked to see his ticket. Now he was getting even more attention he didn't want and the tour staff member was tugging at his sleeve, insisting that he come with him. Changmin followed silently, but he couldn't help feeling unease souring his excitement.

Until he realized he was having a backstage pass and lanyard pressed into his hands. And that he was being escorted to where w-inds and their dancers were waiting for all the pre-opening stuff to be finished.

“Changmin-kun!”

It felt completely bizarre to have Tachibana Keita, someone whose talent he admired and respected, glomping onto him as if they were childhood friends. His brain skidded to a stuttering halt, he couldn't make himself think of how to respond at all.

“He's like that with everyone,” Ryohei was saying, earning himself a backhanded swat from the singer who was still halfway clinging to Changmin.

“Told you he'd come, Ryukyu~”

“Hey, I wasn't the one who was arguing the point!” Ryuichi called out, popping up from behind the couch with a decidedly impish grin. “Nice to meet you, Changmin-san. Oh, and you owe me -.”

“Nothing. You owe him nothing,” Ryohei insisted, his hand covering Ryuichi's mouth before the other could finish his sentence. “You came all this way by yourself? Without even security?”

“Well ... yeah. I mean, none of us were members of the fanclub, so it's not like anyone else could get a ticket. And coming all this way to stay at the hotel while I was here wouldn't have been much fun. Management was kinda already not so happy about the whole thing, to the point where I was kinda surprised they let me come at all, and since I was trying not to be too conspicuous....”

“Eh? Really?” Keita seemed almost scandalized by his words, even going so far as to drop his arm from around his shoulders. “Don't you have a Tokyo apartment? I'd think you could just use that, if you needed to have a Japanese address to join. Did you need to do that, Ryo-kun? You got that packet for him, right?”

“Ah, well, um....” Changmin could feel himself getting flushed and flustered. Dammit, why hadn't he thought of that? Well, no, he knew why, but why hadn't the others thought of it either? Seventeen fanboys, you would think at least _one_ of them would have been able to think of something so obvious.

“Oh, well, I didn't have their Tokyo address, so I just used mine. We should be able to get it changed, but if not, well, it's only good for a year anyway, then you can re-join with your proper address next year if it comes to that,” Ryohei said with a shrug.

“To be honest, I personally hadn't thought about it that much, between work and school and all. I don't know what their excuses are. But I'm really grateful for this, truly.”

“Ah, well, I guess that makes sense,” Keita said, latching onto his arm again. “Anyway, I'm really glad you came. I've really been wanting to meet you ever since Ryo-kun read your letter to us.”

“Eh? Really?” The very idea that these three would care at all about meeting him was something he couldn't quite manage to grasp. Sure, Tohoshinki was famous in Korea and Japan both, but... that didn't mean anything. And why should his letter have had anything to do with it? Maybe the part where he had mentioned the argument that had gotten him saddled with writing to them in the first place? Although he wasn't sure he liked that thought any better.

“Of course. I almost wrote you a letter back myself, but then I wasn't sure it would be appropriate and then Ryuryu told me about the packet Ryo-kun had sent to you and I figured I'd just wait, since I didn't want anything I sent to miss you or something silly like that. But next time you're not getting out of it so easily!” the vocalist declared, practically bouncing at Changmin's side. “And you're definitely not getting out of joining us for dinner tonight!”

“Fifteen minutes! Places people!”

“Ack! Oi, oi! Sora-san! Can you show Changmin-kun where the VIP box is from here? Thank you! See you after the concert, Changmin-kun!”

Ryohei and Ryuichi were both very obviously amused by their bandmate's energy, Ryohei pausing to offer his own thanks before trailing after the other two towards the stage. And now that he was being shown to a more secure place for watching the concert, Changmin could feel his own earlier excitement returning in full force. It was just a shame he didn't have anyone else there to share in it with him.

~*~*~

By the end of the concert, he was even more charged up than he had been at the start and completely ready for more. Unsurprisingly, the three singers known as w-inds were not in any such shape, sprawled across couch and floor. A familiar sight, and Changmin certainly didn't blame them for feeling that way. If he had been the one on stage like they had been for the last hour and a half, he probably would have been looking about the same. So he wasn't entirely sure just what to do with himself while staffers buzzed about, offering cool drinks and ice packs and towels and otherwise getting started with closing out the venue. He wanted to help, but this was obviously a professional, experienced, coordinated team and he didn't want to be getting in the way. So Changmin settled himself in a corner and waited for his hosts to return to normal. Or, well, as normal as they ever were, he supposed.

“Hey, do we know yet where we're going for dinner?” Keita asked, pushing himself into a seated position instead of sprawled out across the couch.

“Someplace with lots of food?” Ryuichi suggested from the floor next to him, rolling over onto his back.

“You always say that,” Ryohei teased, nudging him with one foot. “What about you, Changmin-kun? Any suggestions?”

“Um, well, I'm not too familiar with Kyoto, actually, and I'm not really all that picky, either, so ... whatever sounds good to you guys, I guess?”

“Hopeless. They're both completely hopeless. You'd think the walking stomachs would be the ones to have opinions,” Ryohei mock-groused to Keita.

“I guess that's what we get for asking people who'll eat anything - everything sounds good to them.”

“Hnh, point. All right, bird-boy,” he grumbled, nudging him next, “what do _you_ want to eat?”

“I don't know ... room service?”

Ryohei actually face palmed at that before turning and giving Changmin a world-weary sort of look. “And now you see why I'm the leader - these two can't make decisions for love or money. Does Yunho-kun have these troubles, too?”

“Yeah. Worse, really, cuz there's four of us to his one. But if you want something more helpful for dinner ideas ... think we might still be able to find Italian?”

“Yeah, I think we can manage that,” Ryohei said with a nod. “Okay you two, showers are waiting. Pretty sure Changmin-kun is sick of smelling our sweat.”

A shared laugh and the three performers disappeared to shower and change. Changmin felt a little uncomfortable just hanging around waiting for them, but while he was earning curious looks from various staffers, no one was telling him to leave, probably because of the backstage pass still hanging around his neck.

“All right, Changmin-kun, ready for food?”

“Always, Keita-san.”

“So formal!” Keita half whined, half scoffed. “We're all friends here, isn't that right, Ryuryu!”

“He's got a point. Drop the 'san's, ne? It's not like we're even that much older than you anyway, right?”

“Ah, well, um, I suppose that's true.”

“So cute when he blushes,” Keita cooed, glomping onto him again. That was even more embarrassing, sending an even stronger blush into his cheeks. If they were going to insist on keeping him with them through at least dinner, which they obviously were, then it was going to make for a long night. But he wouldn't regret a minute of it.


End file.
